SPRING/SUMMER 2025

February 27, 2025 (Andrew Erkkila)  – Writing Personal Statements 
Truth can be stranger than fiction. In this workshop, we’ll work through a series of prompts to craft personal essays or personal statements and look at various contemporary texts for inspiration as we write our own! This will be a safe space to discuss whatever topic you might want to write about. We can’t wait to help you share your story!

 

March 13, 2025 (Andrew Erkkila) – Tell Me a Story: Getting Started with Fiction
Ready to craft a killer first line? Or are you farther along and trying to weave in your theme? This class will approach story structure and engage in several prompts to help flesh out those scenes that have lived in your imagination for so long.

 

March 27, 2025 (Andrew Erkkila) – The Writer’s Mind: Exercises in Writing
In this craft class, we will spend most of our time writing, engaging in various prompts that will allow us to tap into a deeper understanding of our stories. By the end of the class, we will try to combine the exercises to have a complete (very short) story.

 

April 10, 2025 (Rachel Han) – Flash Nonfiction/Writing Opinion Pieces 
What does it mean to hold witness to ourselves – and to craft what we’ve witnessed into an account or an opinion piece? In this workshop, we’ll explore how to build a world from the raw materials of our own senses, observations, and memories, exploring themes tied to identity, memory, and place.  

April 24, 2025 (Andrew Erkkila) – Writing Fan Fiction 
In this writing workshop, we will analyze some recent chart-topping bestsellers that began as fan fiction, such as Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and Percival Everett’s James. Whether it’s vampires or Charles Dickens fan-fiction, we will set pen to paper and write our way through our favorite worlds.

May 8, 2025 (Andrew Erkkila) – Poetics of Place: Reflections on Newark 
Brick City, the place we know and love, is the birthplace and adopted hometown of many courageous and colorful writers and characters: from strolling through Military Park with Philip Roth to Avon Avenue with Amiri Baraka to the famous last words of Dutch Schulz in the Palace Chop House, we will read passages from some great Newark scribes, and attempt to channel them in our own retellings.

May 29, 2025 (Rachel Han) – The Writer’s Eye: Editing for Publication 
How might we reach the heart and spine of a work to ensure that its true form shines though all its layers and past iterations? In this workshop, we will explore how to craft and crystallize a work that feels authentic and honest.

June 12, 2025 (Kevin Catalano) – Screenwriting

Learn about the special demands of the screenplay and move your film or television idea from your head to the page. We will discuss the three-act structure, plot points, character arc, and more.   

June 26, 2025 (Kevin Catalano) – Humor Writing 
From writing comedy sketches, and satirical essays, to stand-up routines, there are many forms humor writing takes. We will not only explore how to be funny in writing, but we will also examine the three theories of humor to understand how comedy works.

July 10, 2025 (Kevin Catalano) Zoom – Building a Literary Community
We write in isolation, but we thrive in a supportive group of like-minded people. We will discuss the benefits of a literary community and set the groundwork for creating your own.

July 24, 2025 (Kevin Catalano) Zoom – Blog & Newsletter Writing

Reach a wider audience to communicate all of your unique, random, specialized ideas by creating a blog or newsletter. This workshop will provide information on how to create both while reviewing examples of various types of blogs and newsletters.

August 7, 2025 (Rachel Han) – Travel Writing
In this workshop, we’ll explore how to write about cityscapes, nature, and our own personal connections to place. We’ll explore such questions as What do we bring to a place and what do we take away? What do we carry while we are there, and what do we leave behind? How do we map and understand our own experiences, interactions, and reflections as we move through a specific place?

August 25, 2025 (Rachel Han) – Writing Cover Letters & CVs 
How do we bridge the gap between who we are and where we’re headed? In this workshop, we’ll work with methods for reflecting upon our professional lives and presenting them in ways that are simultaneously grounded, empowering, and future facing.  

 

To take a look at materials from our workshops, please go to our Archives page.